Improvement in bedclothes-clasps



FRANCIS A. RoCKwELL, oF RIDGEFIFLD, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IAN BE-DCLOTHES-CLASPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 7,088, dated February 12, 1.850.

T0 all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I7 FRANCIS A. ROCKWELL, of Ridgefield, county of Fairfield, State of Connecticut, have invented a new and Convenient Mode of Clasping or Fastening Bed- Covering to Bedsteads in Common Use, so as to prevent persons, either children or adults, and particularly sick persons, from unintentionally uncovering themselves while in bed, to their great inconvenience and liability of taking cold thereby, and for the purpose of clasping papers in counting-rooms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of my Inode of the construction, application, combination, and operation thereof.

My invention consists, first, of applying clasps by means of springs with screws or the cam and leveractingupon abar or spring to the rails, timbers, or frames of bedsteads on either side or end and on either side or end of the rails, timbers, or frame thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification.

For a description of the construction, ap-

' plication, combination, and operation of the clasp to the bedstead I will refer to Plate No. l as my rst mode of producing the above effect. Letter E represents the bedstead. The clasp is shown at a, and is made of sprin gsteel, so as to give spring sufficient to hold fast the covering, it being drawn under the end of the clasp, when it is sprung out with the finger in the ring at the end of the Clasp at d. By the combination and operation of the screw with the springat Z7 the clasp may be strengthened more or less, the clasp at Z) being made in such an angle as to set about oneeighth of an inch from the plate or bedstead when the screw at b is not driven close. Letter c shows a screw to be driven close, so as to hold the clasp firm to the plate or bedstead. The spring at letter a shows its convex form, so as to admit of the covering being more easily drawn under, giving room for the fold of the covering, and to give strength tothe clasp. The size of the spring which I use ordinarily is about seven inches in length and three-fourths of an inch Wide and one-eighth of an inch thick from a to b, then gradually tapering to one-sixteenth at CZ. The screws may be of the common article in use, about one inch long.

For my second mode of effecting the aforesaid object I refer to Plate No. 2, showing the clasp applied to the bedstead at A, and is shown as if applied to the bedstead at B, which I will proceed to describe. VThe outline a a represents the plate to which is attached the spring by means of a screw passing through both spring and plate into the bedstead at c. Letters d d show thetwo lugs or ears between which passes the spring, which is operated upon by the cam and lever e e, which are supported between the lugs CZ d by a pin, f, the whole being fastened to the bedstead by screws c c c c. Letter C represents the side view of B clasped. D shows the side view of B unclasped. E shows the side view of the cam and lever. The size of the spring for common use may be about five inches long, onehalf inch wide, and one-eighth of an inch thick at the clasped end, gradually tapering to one thirty-second of an inch at the opposite end,and is in shape as represented at D. The cam and lever are about two and a half inches long and the cam of sufficient inclination to clasp the spring, which, When unclasped,is about three-fourths of an inch from the plate near the end. The cam is of the same thickness as the width of the spring and the lever of sufficient thickness for the required strength.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The use of the cam and lever c e acting on the spring Z) to constitute a clasp, in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

FRANCIS A. RQOKWELL.

NVitnesses:

A. B. STOUGHTON, JOHN SIT'roN. 

